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Are the paternal uncles and maternal uncles of one's father – as well as those on the mother's side – considered part of the kinship ties that must be maintained, and does the warning against those who sever kinship apply to one who does not visit them, given that she is a girl residing with her family and finds it difficult to do so, and does the ruling differ based on gender or ability?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Islamic law commanded the strengthening of kinship ties (silat al-rahim) for both men and women. Therefore, it is your duty to maintain ties with your relatives, including your paternal and maternal uncles. Islamic law did not specify a particular method or a fixed amount for maintaining these ties. Rather, the reference for this is custom and differing circumstances. Kinship ties are maintained through visits, communication, correspondence, greetings, and anything that custom considers a bond. There are degrees of maintaining kinship ties; the lowest of which is abandoning abandonment and maintaining ties through speech, even if only with a greeting. This varies according to ability and need, so some are obligatory and some are recommended. One who maintains some ties but not all of them is not called a severer of ties, and one who falls short of what they are capable of and ought to do is not called a maintainer of ties.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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